Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) has selected ABB to provide automation, electrical, and digital solutions for its 9.6-million tonne/year (tpy) Ruwais LNG plant, 230 km west of Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Ruwais will be the region’s first all-electric LNG plant, using electric-driven motors instead of conventional gas turbines.
As part of the contract—awarded by TJN, an engineering, procurement, and construction joint venture involving Technip Energies, JGC Corp., and NMDC Group—ABB will supply its microcontroller-based electrical control and monitoring (ECM) system aiming to provide "real-time visibility and control of electrical assets, enabling rapid fault detection, load optimization, and power management to be achieved safely and reliably, while reducing downtime," ABB said in a release Nov. 5.
By using electric motors for its two 4.8-million tpy liquefaction trains, the Ruwais LNG project can support the UAE’s emissions reduction efforts. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), electrification of existing LNG infrastructure, and the use of low-emissions electricity to power these, could reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with LNG production by around 60 million tpy.
Global LNG supply has grown faster than overall natural gas demand in recent years, according to the IEA, with this trend set to continue with the delivery of nearly 300 billion cu m/year of new LNG supply capacity by 2030.
Ruwais LNG will more than double ADNOC Gas’ LNG production. The company currently produces 6 million tpy at its Das Island plant. Earlier this year it agreed to supply Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. with 1 million tpy of Ruwais’ production for 15 years.
